Dr. Yimin Daniel Zhang is recently awarded two grants respectively from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) to develop novel array design and signal processing techniques.
Array signal processing exploiting multiple adaptively controlled sensors plays a fundamental role in various sensing and communication systems. Array signal processing is a key enabling technology for adaptive beamforming, interference suppression, multiuser access, direction-of-arrival estimation, source localization, and image formation. Array signal processing techniques are broadly utilized in various applications including wireless communications, radar, sonar, medical imaging, and radio astronomy. The demand for increasingly higher spatial resolution and estimation accuracy in modern sensing and communication applications calls for larger array apertures. Conventional array designs require the number of sensors be approximately proportional to the array aperture.
The common goal of both projects will be the development of novel techniques that make array processing more capable and more cost-effective. Yet, the project funded by the NSF Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) Division will focus on the development of innovative sparse array design strategies and signal processing techniques. Such solutions will bring multifold benefits, such as reducing the hardware complexity and enhancing communication and sensing performance in next-generation wireless communications, supporting high-resolution automotive radar imaging for autonomous driving, and facilitating optimized reconfigurable intelligent surface applications. The AFOSR project, supported under the Dynamic Data and Information Processing (DDIP) program, will closely align with the Air Force’s mission and address the unique challenges in real-world modern radar sensing systems. The project aims to develop signal processing and machine learning methods to enable effective utilization of the spatial, temporal, and spectral resources of radar systems and support reliable radar operations.
Please also see College of Engineering news article: Esteemed Temple professor awarded two grants for array signal processing.